Eras
Who was the most powerful author in a year, who dominated a decade, who held #1 the longest. Every figure is a defined metric summed or maximised over a date range of stored weekly rows — nothing is weighted by opinion.
Leader of every year
Column height = the leader's average Power Share over the period. Click a column to explore that range.
- Robert Ludlum5 periods
- John Grisham5 periods
- James Patterson5 periods
- Lloyd C. Douglas3 periods
- Leon Uris3 periods
- Stephen King3 periods
- Dan Brown3 periods
- Hervey Allen2 periods
- Margaret Mitchell2 periods
- Herman Wouk2 periods
- James A. Michener2 periods
- Robert James Waller2 periods
- James Redfield2 periods
- Danielle Steel2 periods
- J. K. Rowling2 periods
- Gillian Flynn2 periods
- Anthony Doerr2 periods
- Delia Owens2 periods
- Rebecca Yarros2 periods
- John Galsworthy1 period
- Charles Morgan1 period
- A. J. Cronin1 period
- John Steinbeck1 period
- Richard Llewellyn1 period
- James Hilton1 period
- Franz Werfel1 period
- Lillian Smith1 period
- Samuel Shellaburger1 period
- Taylor Caldwell1 period
- Laura Z. Hobson1 period
- Norman Mailer1 period
- Henry Morton Robinson1 period
- James Jones1 period
- Annemarie Selinko1 period
- Morton Thompson1 period
- Francoise Sagan1 period
- Edwin O'Connor1 period
- Grace Metalious1 period
- Robert Traver1 period
- Harper Lee1 period
- Katherine Anne Porter1 period
- Morris L. West1 period
- John le Carré1 period
- Bel Kaufman1 period
- Jacqueline Susann1 period
- Elia Kazan1 period
- Arthur Hailey1 period
- Mario Puzo1 period
- Erich Segal1 period
- Frederick Forsyth1 period
- Peter Benchley1 period
- James Michener1 period
- Paul E. Erdman1 period
- J.R.R. Tolkien1 period
- James Clavell1 period
- Tom Wolfe1 period
- Tom Clancy1 period
- Khaled Hosseini1 period
- Stephenie Meyer1 period
- Kathryn Stockett1 period
- Donna Tartt1 period
- Matt Haig1 period
- Bonnie Garmus1 period
- Virginia Evans1 period
Leaders in 2018
Jan 7, 2018 → Dec 30, 2018 · 52 chart weeks · ranked by Era Power — Sum of weekly Power Share over the range (share-weeks).
- 1James Patterson298
- 2Stephen King230
- 3Celeste Ng204
- 4A.J. Finn201
- 5Lisa Wingate194
- 6John Grisham182
- 7David Baldacci162
- 8Danielle Steel152
- 9Kristin Hannah145
- 10Dan Brown105
| # | Author | Era Power | Average share | Peak share | Peak smoothed | Weeks at #1 | Top-five weeks | Weeks charting |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | James Patterson | 298 | 5.73% | 12.64% | 8.19% | 2 | 21 | 44 |
| 2 | Stephen King | 230 | 4.41% | 14.53% | 8.47% | 5 | 16 | 29 |
| 3 | Celeste Ng | 204 | 3.93% | 9.58% | 7.21% | 0 | 14 | 35 |
| 4 | A.J. Finn | 201 | 3.86% | 14.53% | 7.95% | 4 | 11 | 31 |
| 5 | Lisa Wingate | 194 | 3.73% | 7.26% | 5.46% | 0 | 0 | 40 |
| 6 | John Grisham | 182 | 3.50% | 14.53% | 10.64% | 4 | 14 | 19 |
| 7 | David Baldacci | 162 | 3.12% | 14.53% | 6.52% | 3 | 8 | 23 |
| 8 | Danielle Steel | 152 | 2.93% | 14.53% | 4.81% | 3 | 9 | 20 |
| 9 | Kristin Hannah | 145 | 2.79% | 14.53% | 7.54% | 5 | 9 | 20 |
| 10 | Dan Brown | 105 | 2.01% | 14.53% | 10.21% | 1 | 6 | 13 |
| 11 | Bill Clinton | 101 | 1.94% | 7.30% | 5.19% | 0 | 1 | 17 |
| 12 | Nicholas Sparks | 91 | 1.75% | 14.53% | 6.37% | 1 | 8 | 9 |
| 13 | Elin Hilderbrand | 85 | 1.64% | 12.64% | 4.54% | 1 | 5 | 13 |
| 14 | Nora Roberts | 84 | 1.62% | 12.64% | 4.34% | 0 | 6 | 11 |
| 15 | Lee Child | 82 | 1.58% | 14.53% | 5.91% | 1 | 4 | 12 |
| 16 | Mitch Albom | 80 | 1.54% | 14.60% | 4.95% | 1 | 3 | 10 |
| 17 | John Sandford | 78 | 1.49% | 14.53% | 3.97% | 1 | 6 | 9 |
| 18 | Tayari Jones | 71 | 1.36% | 12.64% | 4.62% | 0 | 4 | 10 |
| 19 | Delia Owens | 71 | 1.36% | 9.58% | 3.81% | 0 | 2 | 15 |
| 20 | J. D. Robb | 67 | 1.29% | 14.78% | 3.32% | 3 | 4 | 8 |
| 21 | Daniel Silva | 59 | 1.13% | 14.53% | 4.45% | 1 | 4 | 7 |
| 22 | Debbie Macomber | 57 | 1.09% | 11.01% | 3.00% | 0 | 4 | 10 |
| 23 | Jodi Picoult | 55 | 1.05% | 14.53% | 3.89% | 1 | 4 | 8 |
| 24 | Mary Higgins Clark | 52 | 1.01% | 14.53% | 3.96% | 1 | 4 | 8 |
| 25 | Jojo Moyes | 52 | 1.00% | 12.64% | 3.88% | 0 | 4 | 7 |
| 26 | Emily Giffin | 52 | 1.00% | 12.64% | 3.55% | 1 | 4 | 8 |
| 27 | George R. R. Martin | 51 | 0.98% | 14.53% | 4.67% | 1 | 4 | 4 |
| 28 | Sandra Brown | 48 | 0.92% | 14.53% | 3.99% | 1 | 4 | 5 |
| 29 | Ruth Ware | 46 | 0.89% | 9.64% | 3.77% | 0 | 2 | 6 |
| 30 | Lauren Weisberger | 46 | 0.89% | 6.32% | 2.80% | 0 | 0 | 11 |
| 31 | Lisa Scottoline | 45 | 0.86% | 12.64% | 2.95% | 0 | 3 | 6 |
| 32 | Clive Cussler | 43 | 0.83% | 7.26% | 1.50% | 0 | 1 | 12 |
| 33 | Michael Connelly | 43 | 0.83% | 11.01% | 3.85% | 0 | 2 | 9 |
| 34 | Kyle Mills | 43 | 0.83% | 12.70% | 3.33% | 0 | 2 | 6 |
| 35 | Tommy Orange | 42 | 0.81% | 7.26% | 2.43% | 0 | 0 | 11 |
| 36 | Barbara Kingsolver | 40 | 0.77% | 11.01% | 3.15% | 0 | 3 | 6 |
| 37 | Liane Moriarty | 40 | 0.76% | 12.64% | 3.06% | 0 | 2 | 6 |
| 38 | Janet Evanovich | 38 | 0.74% | 14.53% | 3.02% | 1 | 2 | 6 |
| 39 | Brad Meltzer | 38 | 0.72% | 14.53% | 3.06% | 1 | 2 | 5 |
| 40 | Meg Wolitzer | 37 | 0.70% | 12.64% | 3.10% | 0 | 2 | 5 |
| 41 | Amor Towles | 36 | 0.69% | 4.27% | 1.98% | 0 | 0 | 13 |
| 42 | Brad Thor | 35 | 0.67% | 12.64% | 2.73% | 1 | 1 | 6 |
| 43 | Anne Tyler | 34 | 0.65% | 11.01% | 2.90% | 0 | 1 | 5 |
| 44 | C. J. Box | 34 | 0.65% | 14.53% | 2.76% | 1 | 2 | 5 |
| 45 | Madeline Miller | 33 | 0.64% | 14.53% | 2.28% | 1 | 1 | 5 |
| 46 | Maxine Paetro | 33 | 0.63% | 7.26% | 2.54% | 0 | 0 | 7 |
| 47 | Robert Galbraith | 33 | 0.63% | 14.83% | 2.83% | 1 | 2 | 4 |
| 48 | Andrew Bourelle | 32 | 0.62% | 7.43% | 2.52% | 0 | 2 | 6 |
| 49 | Mike Maden | 32 | 0.61% | 11.06% | 2.79% | 0 | 2 | 4 |
| 50 | Jesmyn Ward | 31 | 0.60% | 8.34% | 2.35% | 0 | 2 | 7 |